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NCT05880251: OCS-PLP
Operant Conditioning of Sensory Brain Responses to Reduce Phantom Limb Pain in People With Limb Amputation
NA trial testing Operant Conditioning with Peripheral Stimulation in Phantom Limb Pain After Amputation in 20 participants. Completed in 29 August 2025.
1 July 2025
Quick facts
| Lead sponsor | VA Office of Research and Development |
|---|---|
| Phase | NA |
| Status | Completed |
| Study type | INTERVENTIONAL |
| Allocation | randomized |
| Design | parallel |
| Masking | triple |
| Primary purpose | treatment |
| Enrollment | 20 |
| Start date | 1 July 2023 |
| Primary completion | 1 July 2025 |
| Estimated completion | 29 August 2025 |
| Sites | 1 location across United States |
Drugs / interventions tested
- Operant Conditioning with Peripheral Stimulation
- Control Group with Peripheral Stimulation Only
Conditions studied
- Phantom Limb Pain After Amputation — all drugs for Phantom Limb Pain After Amputation →
- Lower Limb Amputation — all drugs for Lower Limb Amputation →
- Upper Limb Amputation — all drugs for Upper Limb Amputation →
- Phantom Pain — all drugs for Phantom Pain →
Sponsor
VA Office of Research and Development — full company profile →
Who can join
18 and older, any sex, with Phantom Limb Pain After Amputation or Lower Limb Amputation. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.
Sponsor's own description
The study will investigate the application of a non-pharmacological operant conditioning approach to reduce phantom limb pain (PLP). PLP afflicts 60-90% people who have lost a limb. It can last for years and lead to drug dependence, job loss, and poor quality of life. Current non-pharmacological interventions are encouraging but limited, and their efficacy remains unclear. Limb amputation is known to lead to abnormal sensorimotor reorganization in the brain. Multiple studies have shown that PLP severity is correlated with the extent of this reorganization. The current study will train participants via realtime feedback of brain responses to promote more normal sensorimotor response, with the goal to reduce phantom limb pain.
Publications & conference data
2 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):
-
Spinal reflexes: a potential target for treating hemiparetic gait.
Hardesty RL, Mojtabavi H, Wolpaw JR. · · 2025 · PMID 40549633 · DOI 10.1152/jn.00211.2025 -
Soleus H-reflex size versus stimulation rate in the presence of background muscle activity: A methodological study
Brangaccio JA, Gupta D, Mojtabavi H, Hardesty RL, et al · · 2025 · DOI 10.1101/2025.03.17.643784
Verify or expand the search:
- PubMed search for NCT05880251
- Europe PMC full search
- ASCO Meeting Library
- ESMO Meeting Library
- bioRxiv preprints
- medRxiv preprints
- Google Scholar
Related trials
Other recruiting trials for Phantom Limb Pain After Amputation
Currently open trials in the same condition.
- NCT07324109 — Clinical Application Observation on the Evaluation of Phantom Limb Pain With the Suralis System · NA · recruiting
Other VA Office of Research and Development trials
Trials by the same sponsor.
- NCT07456150 — Personalizing Veteran Pain Care: Adapting Coaching Interventions to Support Maintenance of Self-Care · Phase 1 · not yet recruiting
- NCT06746727 — The Development of a Transdiagnostic Intervention to Improve Social Functioning and Intimate Relationships Among Veteran · NA · not yet recruiting
- NCT07362576 — Perinatal Peer Support for Veterans With Serious Mental Illness · NA · not yet recruiting
- NCT06766331 — Integrated Care Versus Usual Care for Opioid Use Disorder and Infectious Diseases in Veterans · NA · not yet recruiting
- NCT07397195 — ACT for Veterans With IBD and Mental Health Challenges · NA · not yet recruiting
Verify against primary sources
- ClinicalTrials.gov — authoritative US registry record
- WHO ICTRP — international registry index
- EU Clinical Trials Register
- Sponsor press releases (Google)
- Trial protocol + status: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05880251 (US National Library of Medicine, public domain)
- Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 9 June 2026
- Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
- Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by VA Office of Research and Development
- Last refreshed: 16 January 2026
Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT05880251.
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